The one fact that decides this comparison
An electric shower or tank heater makes heat by burning electricity through an element. One unit in, one unit out. Full price, every shower, forever — physics allows nothing better.
A heat pump doesn't make heat. It moves heat that's already in the warm Philippine air into your water. One unit of electricity in, about four units of heat out. For every ₱1 of electricity, roughly ₱4 of hot water.
Side by side, fairly
| Electric shower / tank heater | Heat pump water heater | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Wins. A few thousand pesos per unit, any plumber fits one. | Costs more on day one — it's a small machine, not an element in a box. |
| Running cost | Full price. 1 unit of electricity = 1 unit of heat. The most expensive common way to make hot water. | Up to 75% less. A ₱4,000 hot-water bill becomes roughly ₱1,000 for the same showers. |
| Serves | One outlet each. Three bathrooms = three heaters all billing you at full price. | The whole property from one unit and a tank — bathrooms, kitchen, laundry. |
| Lifespan | A few years per unit; elements scale up and fail in hard water. | Built like an aircon — a sealed compressor system, designed for years of daily service. 24-month warranty from delivery. |
| Payback | Nothing to pay back — but nothing ever comes back either. | Under four years at one Philippine residence we measured (about ₱53,000 saved a year). Daily users pay back fastest. |
| In a brownout | No power, no hot water. | A tank of hot water already made — showers still work. |
| Wiring | Each shower needs its own heavy circuit. | One standard 13 A socket. |
Where the electric heater honestly wins: a single, lightly used bathroom. If hot water is occasional, the cheap unit is the right buy — there isn't enough usage for the running-cost gap to matter. The heat pump's case is built on daily hot water: families, B&Bs, clinics, salons, restaurants.
A worked example: a three-bathroom house
Three electric showers, used every morning and evening, cost a family around ₱4,000 a month in electricity for hot water alone. Swap them for one heat pump water heater with a 200-litre tank and the same showers cost about ₱1,000. That is roughly ₱3,000 a month, or ₱36,000 a year, staying in the house instead of going to the power company.
Over five years, that is about ₱180,000 saved — more than the machine costs — and the tank is still working. The savings calculator does the same sum for your own bill.
Which size do you need?
| Your situation | Size | Hot water it makes |
|---|---|---|
| House or condo, one or two bathrooms | AquaHERO 200 L | About 54 litres an hour, stored in a 200-litre tank |
| Clinic, salon, B&B or guest house — around 400 to 600 litres a day | AquaHERO 288 L | About 65 litres an hour, stored in a 288-litre tank |
| Above about 600 litres a day — hotels, laundries, food businesses | iHEAT commercial heat pump | 9.5 to 100 kW, sized to a measured load |
The heat pump water heater guide goes through what changes in the house, what it needs to be installed, and how to get a price.
What this looks like in practice
Karnot's AquaHERO is the drop-in version: a heat pump water heater with a 200 L or 288 L tank that plugs into a standard 13 A socket and replaces per-bathroom electric showers with one system. At one Philippine residence, that swap saved about ₱53,000 a year — payback in under four years on equipment built to outlast it.
For bigger demand — hotels, food businesses, anywhere past roughly 600 litres a day — the same physics scales up through iHEAT commercial heat pumps, with a Full-Service Rental Plan where you pay a fixed monthly fee that is less than your bill today.
What about an LPG or gas water heater?
Gas is cheaper to run than an electric shower but dearer than a heat pump, and the price moves with every LPG delivery. Heat pump vs LPG vs diesel puts the three side by side.
Questions we get asked
What does an electric shower really cost to run?
One unit of electricity buys exactly one unit of heat — full price for every hot shower. It is the most expensive common way to heat water in the Philippines.
How much cheaper is a heat pump water heater?
About four units of heat per unit of electricity. Same hot water, up to 75% less energy — ₱4,000 of hot water becomes roughly ₱1,000, about ₱36,000 a year saved.
When does an electric heater make more sense?
A single light-use bathroom. Low usage means the running-cost gap never adds up to the price difference. We'll tell you honestly which side of that line you're on.
What's the payback period?
At one Philippine residence: about ₱53,000 saved a year, payback in under four years. Daily hot-water users see the fastest return.
Which size do I need?
One or two bathrooms: 200 L. Around 400–600 litres a day: 288 L. Above that, a commercial iHEAT sized to the measured load.
Do heat pumps work in Philippine heat?
Better than almost anywhere — the warm air is the fuel. Full answer here.
Find out which side of the line you're on
Tell us your bathrooms and your hot-water habits — or send a photo of your bill and we'll measure it. If the electric heater is genuinely your better buy, we'll say so.
Send us your billRelated: Heat pump water heaters — which size, what it saves · Heat pumps in the Philippines · AquaHERO water heaters · Your hot water system is costing you 4× too much · Heat pump vs LPG vs diesel boiler